Jay-Z's Free New York Concert Interrupted By Fire Alarm

Jay-Z played a free Myspace/DJ Hero show last night (Sept. 9) at New York's Gramercy Theater, just 48-hours before his Madison Square Garden charity concert and live television broadcast. But shortly after telling his fans he'd extend his set, fire alarms interrupted the performance.

"They told me 45 minutes, but I think I'm going to go an hour and fifteen," the Brooklyn rapper, clad in all black, told the roaring crowd of 650 just after performing a hit-heavy set including "You Don't Know;" "99 Problems;" "I Know;" "Venus Vs. Mars;" "Dirt Off Your Shoulder;" "Ain't No Love;" "H To The Izzo;" "Jigga What;" "I Just Wanna Love You" and "Show Me What You Got."

He proceeded by asking longtime friend and sideman Memphis Bleek to join him on stage and "f--k with your boy," before breaking into a joint medley of Roc-A-Fella favorites like "Money Ain't A Thing," "Excuse Me Miss," "Fiesta" and "You, Me, Him and Her." It was midway during the latter, while Bleek rapped his verse, that the electricity on stage went out, an alarm went off and New York Fire Department officials entered the venue.

Jay-Z wiped his face with a towel as technicians ran on stage with flashlights in attempt to fix the issue. The FDNY officials exited the building shortly after as the fans chanted "Hova! Hova!"

Jay-Z returned to the stage just a few minutes later to the beat of Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and backed by his eight-piece band and DJ Neil Armstrong, who accompanied him for the first half of the set.

"We really have to get out of here, enough is enough," he said after performing tracks like "Big Pimpin'," "Hard Knock Life," "Can I Get A What," and the night's closer, "Encore." "I had a good time with you all and shit. I appreciate all of you. Shout out to the whole NYC, especially Brooklyn -- my hometown. And to everybody that got the 'Blueprint 3,' I appreciate the love," he said.